Pipe-cleaning seal



July 4, 1950 l.. R. ROBINSON r AL PIPE CLEANING SEAL Filed June 4, 1946 Eg. J

m @www d l mlll |N| ,j .Tll n|| 1 I a .Q lT\\ E r IIJJAIIL bhe/4 ATTORNEYS' Patented July 4, 1950 Lawrence .rR. Robinson, MountLebanon, lKyle I. Robinson, .Glenshaw, Earl 0. Berger, Bellevue, `and Walter S. `Lang, Pittsburgh,.Pa., .assignors to Pittsburgh Pipe Cleaner Company, "Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of VPennsylvania .,Anplicatonunezi, 1946,.;Seral No. 674,302

2 Cla'ims. `l This inventonrelatesfto the cleaning of service water lines which extend 4from water mains to buildings.

Water mains in the .street are ,tappedfat the buildings .in front of which they pass, andfsmall `service lines are connected `tothe mains for 4.de-

livering Vwater to the building. Closeto the water mains, usually vjust behindthe curb, there is ,a valvein -each service .line .which is opened when Water ser-vice .is turned .on for .a .building. The service ylines gradually become obstructed zby vdeposits of lime-and the like,;so it becomes desirable vor necessary to clean Vout i-the lines. This can be done between ythe curb valvefandthe building by closing the Vcur-b valve, l.disconnecting the .innerendof-the line efrom the A.meter .inthe building, and driving a cleaning tool through the line from its open inner end to the valve. .Theicommon practice is to rotate the tool by-rneans of a Vexible Ycable while the tool is being driven forward by the cable. At intervals the valve is opened Yto iiush out the debris that the .tool 1has cut from .the pipe. Atsuch timesfeeding of the tool into the line is stopped, .because .the velocity pressure .of the water against .it would .force the cableinto a spiral inside of the pipe and cause so much friction Ythat it either wouldprevent the cable from turning or would cause it tobreak. It will be understood that if the cleaning tool can not Aoperate while the curb valve is open, then this .system `of cleaning cannot be employed for cleaning the service line between thecurb valve and the main because that valve .must remain open to accommodate the drivingcable when the tool is beyond the valve. If this short section of vpipe cannot be cleaned it may block oli' the rest of the 'line which can be cleaned, and thereby Yrender cleaning of thelatter futile.

.It is among the objects .of this invention-to ,provide ,apparatus which ,permits a water serv- :iee`line to be cleaned ,throughoutits length, and

which permits .the static .pressure .on the .water main .to be checked while theservice line isbe- .ing cleaned.

.froma ,watermeterin a building. 4Ahousing is connected .to the opposite end lof the .couplingy .sure resisting its advance.

2 and a rotatable -cable by -whicha cleaning tool 1s fed through the service line is passed .through this housing and .the coupling. .Packing .ma-

terial is disposedin .the housing z-to yrestrainfleakage vof water through it. The bottomaof .the coupling is provided with a Awater outlet whichvnormally is closed by sa 'flushing valve. With this valve closed .and :the curb valve in thefserviceline open, the tool can be-driven the full length v,of the service line because there is no :v.elocity;pr.es ,The .coupling `'may be lprovided with a gauge -which .shows 'thestatic .pressure on the mai-n line. When itis desired Ato 'flush out the cuttings from `the service line, .the tool is vstopped vand the Vvalve at the coupling opened. Connected tothe `packing housing .is means for tightening up `the packing whenever-it becomes necessary in order to ,stop leakage through the housing. vAs there generally will be .sorneleakage along the cable in spite'of the packing, it is desirable to Ymount a reservoir ,on .the

V.outerzendof the housing tooollect such leakage.

Eig 1;.and ,-Eig. 4 lis areducedside .vieWf-of the apparatus .inoperative .position at .the innerV end of .aservice line.

Referring -to Fig. 4 .of the drawings, fa ywater main .I in astreet `has a service V`line 2 extending romfit througha foundation wall3 of =.a-bui1ding,

.such yas a-house orgplace oibusiness. A few .feet

.casion for closing this vvalve thereafter, except when the service line iis to :be Acleaned out. The curb valve :then is closed to :permit the: inner Vyend vof the lservice .line Vto-,be disconnected from the meter :6. `In accordance lwith athis *inventionaeducers l and 8 then are connected to the inner end of the line, and the larger reducer is screwed into an opening in one end of a coupling 9 which may be a standard T. In the opposite end of this coupling there is another opening in which one end of a tubular housing Ill is screwed. The two openings preferably are axially aligned. Between the two openings the bottom of the coupling is provided with an outlet to which a normally closed valve I I is connected in conventional manner.. Extending through the tubular housing and the coupling and into the service line is a flexible driving cable I2 to the outer end of which a suitable pipe cleaning tool I3 is connected. The cable is rotated and pushed ahead to feed the tool through the service line by means of apparatus I4 well known for this purpose.

Water from the service line is kept from escaping in any large amount through housing I by means of packing material with which the housing is iilled. For this purpose a disc I6 provided with a central opening is welded in the inner end portion of the housing to form an end wall. One or more, preferably three, cylindrical packing members Il of rubber or other suitable material are disposed face to face in the housing and are provided with axial openings I8 aligned with the opening in the end wall. The driving cable extends through and iills these openings. To' press the packing against the cable and the inner surface of the tube, a compression bushing I9 is adjustably mounted in the outer end portion of housing IU. This bushing has a threaded portion that is screwed into the outer end of the housing and into engagement with the packing therein. The rest of the bushing is located outside of the housing and is provided with threaded radial openings in which rods 2i are screwed so that the bushing can be turned. When, due to wear of the cable against the packing members, water starts to leak through the housing in an appreciable quantity, the bushing is turned to screw it farther into the housing in order to compress the packing members further to stop most of the leakage. The leakage that does occur is caught in a reservoir 22 which is mounted on the outer end of the compression bushing. That is, two semi-circular plates 23 are bolted to the inner open end of the reservoir and project radially into an annular recess 24 in the bushing. This arrangement permits the bushing to be turned without turning the reservoir, the bottom of which is provided with a drain 26 that may empty onto the cellar floor orbe connected by a hose 2l to a cellar drain. The outer end of the reservoir is provided with a small opening 28 through which the cable passes and in which it rotates.

To avoid any danger of the iiexible cable buckl ling or looping in being pushed through reservoirv 22 and coupling 9, a short tube is mounted in each chamber to compel the cable to remain straight. Thus, in reservoir 22 a tube 32 is Welded to the outer face of bushing I9 around the axial pas- Jsage through it. As this tube has a small internal' diameter, the flexible cable I2 which extends Sto keep the cable from buckling therein, but

fnotzfar enough to interfere With ushing of -cuttings from the inner end of the service line 2.

Til

In using this apparatus the curb valve 4 may be closed and the flushing valve I I open or closed while the pipe is being cleaned between these two valves, or the curb valve may be opened only enough to allow a small ifow of water through the service line in which case the other valve is left open. The cleaning tool then is driven into the service line to cut the deposits from its wall. After the tool has progressed a ways it is stopped and the curb valve'opened wide to flush the debris from the pipe out through the; coupling and open valve Il. If thecurb valve has been left slightly open, a great deal of the cuttings will be iiushed out continuously as fast as they are loosened from the pipe. When the cleaning tool reaches the curb Valve the flushing valve is closed and then the curb valve is opened wide so that the tool can pass through it and proceed toward the water main. This can be done because, with the coupling valve closed, there is no velocity pressure against the tool which could prevent it from moving forward. At intervals the tool is stopped and valve II is opened to permit the service line to be flushed out. Whenever necessary, the packing in the tubular housing I0 is compressed by turning the compression bushing I9.

A pressure gauge 3| on coupling 9 permits the static pressure on the main line to be checked so that when meter readings are taken before and after cleaning the service line it can be determined Whether or not any fluctuation in the static pressure in the main line may account for the difference in results obtained.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explained the principle and construction of our invention and have illustrated and described what wenow consider to represent its best embodiment. However, we desire to have it understood that, withinthe scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specilically illustrated and described.

We claim:

1. In apparatus for cleaning a water service line between a building and water main by means of a tool advanced through the line by a rotating cable, a housing having a cable-receiving passage through it, packing means in said housing for retarding leakage of Water through it, manually rotatable means having its inner end threaded in one end of the housing for compressing said packy ing, said means having a cable-receiving passage therethrough, and a receiver for leakage from said housing provided with cable-receiving openings in its opposite ends and with a drain in its bottom, the outer end of said compressing means being rotatably mounted in one of said receiver openings to permit said means to be turned without rotating the receiver.

`2. In Aapparatus for cleaning a water service line between a, building and water main by means of a tool advanced through the line by a rotating cable, 4a housing having a cable-receiving passage through it, packing means in said housing for retarding leakage of Water through it, g manually rotatable tubular member having its inner end threaded in one end of the housing and engaging said packing, the projecting outer end of said member being provided with a peripheral recess, means connected to said member between said recess and housing for turning said member to compress the packing, a receiver for leakage from said housing provided with cable-receiving openings in its opposite ends and with a drain in its bottom, the outer end of'said tubular member projecting into one of said receiver openings, and retaining means secured to said receiver and projecting into said recess to support the receiver from said member and to permit the latter to be turned relative to the receiver.

LAWRENCE R. ROBINSON.

KYLE I. ROBINSON.

EARL O. BERGER.

WALTER S. LANG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Osenbruck June 24, 1884 Butts Nov. 3, 1896 Hochtritt Nov. 8, 1927 Weant June 9, 1931 Benner Apr. 12, 1932 Ford July 16, 1935 Schouler May 13, 1941 Hornschuch Mar. 27, 1945 

